If
you make a date with an Icelander and they show up
late, don't
take it personally. Odds are that your
new friend was stuck at work. The people
of Iceland are infamous for their rigid
work ethic, and the country has one of
the longest work weeks in Europe. Many
people have two jobs, and kids typically
spend summers working odd jobs to save
extra money. Productivity is perhaps the
single most pervasive aspect of the
national character, a fundamental source
of self-respect and well-being.

Part
of what supports this work is heavy
consumerism. Icelanders like to spend
their money. If you visit a typical
household, you'll see plenty of useless
goods, and more books per capita than
anywhere else (they actually hold the
world record for book ownership). Every
other Icelander owns a car, and almost
everyone has a VCR. Icelanders read twice
as many newspapers as the average US
citizen. Each year, 200,000 Icelanders
travel abroad.

Given all this busyness, Iceland could
easily be misinterpreted as a big salt
mine where it's all work and no play. The
reality is far from it - Icelanders play
just as hard.

Twelve percent of
Icelands people work in the fishing
industry  by far the largest
percentage of fishing workers within any
country. Fishing is, has, and (provided
stocks are managed well) probably will
continue to be the nations economic
backbone. Each year, over 2 million tons
of fish are harvested within the 758,000
square miles of national fishing waters,
with the cod catch consistently ranking
as the most profitable, followed by
shrimp and Redfish.